I just completed my Renegade playthrough, officially completing all of the new V14 content. I wanted to just share my thoughts and feelings about the current state of the game and story. I won't go too much (if at all) into theories. I'm gonna do this by ranking the six total parts of Ch 16 from both routes. This is going to be a very, very long post. Starting with the lowest:
6. Paragon Part 1
This part was nice for the most part, and it finally answered the question of why Melia and Marianette are two different people. We also got to see the birth of Storm-Nym, so lore-wise this part did its job. However, I think this part drags on far too long.
The sections where it turns into a real-time battle between Nymiera and Vitus are just not fun, and the last part with Hazuki vs Storm-Wrath is, frankly, poorly made. The timing of the A key relative to when the indicator shows up is so wonky. I'd like to think of myself as being good at pressing a key on time, given that I'm a pretty good Geometry Dash player, but this was just not good, not fun, and it feels out of place.
Additionally, the chase sequence where you are escaping from Storm-Nym is too long. It's just, go through area, Storm-Nym catches up, Hazuki shows up, rinse and repeat x5. Everything else about this part was, like I said, nice. Not great or amazing in my opinion, but decent.
5. Renegade Part 1
This part shares a problem with the Paragon part which is the tap A simulator battle with Storm-Strength. Not fun, and honestly it was just frustrating. Other than that, this part was a step in the right direction from Paragon, as it felt a lot more fluid and not dragged out. I appreciated that it distinguished itself story-wise while still allowing the script to progress.
The difficulty, however, was a wake-up call that I needed to train up literally everything in my box before starting. Anju, Hazuki, and Nymiera were all incredibly tough fights that surpassed everything in Karma Files except Spacea & Tiempa. Karma Beast Nymiera was just a stall fest since I whittled her down with Curse + Salt Cure + Leech Seed. I don't know that thing's stats but I gotta assume it's like at least 200 in HP and both defenses.
For the story, the main thing here is learning about Lorna and Zed. Right now, I'm not necessarily opposed to this, but I'm having a hard time seeing how these two will become anywhere near as compelling as the antagonists have been so far, given we only have two updates left. Like after V14, we got Lorna, Zed, Karma, Zenos (maybe), Kaina, and Variya (maybe) as the big bads of the game, and they were all introduced in the past two updates. It feels a little late to be introducing this many major antagonists.
4. Renegade Part 2
This part felt a lot shorter than its Paragon counterpart. That seems to be a running trend with the Renegade parts but hey I'm not complaining 😂
The Xenpurgis portion was interesting. It was funny to see Cassandra go through an entire character arc in the span of 20 minutes and become (kind of?) an ally to the good guys. After struggling with the Eizen fight on Paragon Pt. 2, it was really satisfying to sweep him with M2's Annihilape. That being said, the insides of the Xenpurgis seemed like a bit of an afterthought. It was one mini puzzle and then nothing, just the double battle against Melia and Flora.
Next is Angelica's WonderTower. As a standalone segment, it was a very fun, mostly pleasant experience except obviously for the end where 41l#n gets EON'd. I also thought it was particularly foul of Zenos for going back to save 30s#Ly just to EON her as well lmao. However, I don't think Angelica's WonderTower should have been so detached from everything going on outside, being such a major part of the story (even if that was what Alice was aiming for). Like I said before, it feels like a standalone segment when it really should have been fit better into the story imo.
However, from a gameplay perspective I have absolutely no issues with this part and therefore I will place it comfortably above the previous two parts.
3. Paragon Part 3
This will probably be the most controversial placement since it's the climax of Paragon, but hear me out. This will definitely be the longest section of the post by a long shot.
Let's start with the stuff I dislike, then I'll get to the good stuff. Since I obviously did Paragon first, this was my first exposure to how "random bullshit go" became how difficulty was increased. The Xen Executive domain effects, the adding of types to Madame Shogun's pokemon, all the times the enemy got to activate moves or effects between turns to buff their pokemon, and more. It exposed something I really dislike about the story at this stage. Us being the Interceptor means virtually nothing from a gameplay standpoint. Other characters get to use their special powers in battle, like Anju with permanent unchangeable snow, or again, Madame Shogun and her type additions. What do we get? Interceptium-Z. Very good with the right planning, but absolutely not the overpowered, unstoppable force that everyone seems to believe we are.
I want to talk about Pokemon Reborn really quick. They made the field system. They made new items. But they almost always gave the player the opportunity to use whatever the enemy had. Be it fields or items or legendaries, the player eventually got it. The exception was the PULSE pokemon, but you get what I mean. There was always a way to either take away the enemy's strategy or use it better than them. Rejuvenation stacks buff after buff on the enemy while crafting new fields and editing old ones to make it impossible for you to change the field. In addition, giving exclusive and overpowered legendaries to the enemy that the field is specifically crafted to buff. It just feels so tiring to have to fight against all this overpowered bullshit.
Now let's talk about my gripes with the story. It mainly has to revolve around Storm-Nym. In terms of Paragon-only content, she's not an interesting villain in the slightest. She's built up to be so overpowered and unstoppable, yet she never seems to use those overpowered and unstoppable abilities when it really matters. Where was that ultra-destroying beam that glitched out the Underground Sanctuary when Melia's Magearna was clowning on her and Vitus's team? If she has these world-breaking powers, why does she allow the fate of her plan to rely on a pokemon battle? This is another problem I have with Rejuvenation's story, which is the balance between pokemon battles and person battles. It feels like the story doesn't know the proper time to focus on either, or how to combine the two in a way that makes sense.
And then Vitus. It feels like he was just thrown in at the end and combined with Storm-Nym as a joint villain (even though he has had the most buildup and history of any villain in the game) so that we could have an epic finale that gets rid of "all" the bad guys. It feels like a rushed ending, and Madame X's character suffered for it. Throughout Castle Weiss and Deux Finalis, I was mainly just confused the first time around. It doesn't help that Melia and the MC keep all this stuff hidden.
The last thing I wanted to talk about that I disliked about this part was the convenience of characters just so happening to have the ability to solve or get through a bad situation with no prior indication. The two main examples being Kanon using his cloak to shield Erin and Cera, and Damien being able to connect the MC with Zygarde. When did they get those abilities? They seem useful, why haven't they been using them until now? It's again, an issue of balancing powers given to people with pokemon battles. I want these things to develop properly and make sense. I don't like it when these things are just thrown in there to ensure the story progresses in a certain way.
Ok, that was a lot of complaining. And while it may sound like I seriously despised this part, and that the number of good things doesn't match up to the bad, this is still number 3 on this list for a reason.
It's true, I don't have many good things to say, but I care far more about the good than the bad. It just felt… so nice to see everyone band together and make a united front against the villains. We finally got the full story about Anastasia, Katsu, Crescent, and Geara. I stand by what I said: Storm-Nym is, from a writing standpoint, extremely weak. But Vitus has been responsible for so much hurt and destruction, and seeing everyone he's harmed band together and annihilate him for good was so satisfying. I chose Erin to execute him cause more than anyone, she deserves it, and she tore him apart. I like that they showed the feeling of emptiness she has after finally getting what she's been wanting for decades, and I'm excited to see where her character goes in future versions. Similar to Lorna and Zed, I'll reserve my judgement on Kaina until we see more of her.
But what I loved most was the music. Xen HQ, Xen Final Battle, Madame X, Deux Finalis, Vitus/Nym, Kaina, and of course, Up In Flames. All my negative feelings about the story were blown away in the moment because of how amazing the soundtrack was and how well it complemented the situations. Deux Finalis, Vitus/Nym, and Up In Flames are some of Zumi's and GlitchxCity's best works.
2. Paragon Part 2
Speaking of everyone banding together…..
My personal favorite part of Paragon. Seeing everyone we've gotten to know and befriend, helping and making a difference was so cool. I loved seeing all the wacky character interactions that we would never think of, like Goomelda and Odessa, or Crawli, Partricia and Karrina.
It was a bit annoying to bump into so much rubble on the roads, but what can you do?
The four Rift Pokemon posed a fun challenge, and the setting and music for all four was stellar. My personal favorite is Chi-Two. Getting into a fistfight with a Finneon while Reina goes crazy in the background was one of the funniest things I've seen in this game. That along with the fact that I figured out pretty quickly that Chi-Two just folds to Trick Room, and it quickly became one of my favorite fights in the game. I wanna give another compliment to the music. I believe the file name is Thrash – Carnival in the game files, and it's a super sped up version of some remix for a Pokken Tournament song. But the super sped up version fits so unbelievably well with the feeling of chaos and destruction of the Xenpurgis rifts… except maybe the Lilligants.
By far the peak of this part, however, was the body of the Xenpurgis, and the roguelike progression. Unfortunately, it wasn't until my second time playing through chapter 16 that I really understood how to do well here, but everything just worked out so perfectly here on my NG+ playthrough that I couldn't hate any part of this. I found it very fun, and finding broken combinations with the blessings in true roguelike fashion was awesome. I found a Burn + Curse combination that paired extremely well with Garganacl and managed to almost solo the Rift Torterra on the 3rd floor. It's a good thing too cause that freaking Torterra is a monster among monsters.
And of course, we gotta talk about the music. The music for the first two floors is good, but Xenpurgis – Augen (Aufstieg) is possibly the greatest track in the game, with its only competition being Inconsistent_seas and another one that I'll talk about later. It just perfectly compliments the buildup to this moment, everything Bladestar and the Puppet Master has been fearing, and the whole region is behind our backs to defeat Cassandra once and for all. If you ask me, the climax of Part 2 is done better than the climax of Part 3.
1. Renegade Part 3
Everyone also bands together here…. oh. OH. They're coming together against you.
I really don't have much to say about the Xen HQ portion of this part. I feel the same about it as I do about the Paragon Xen HQ – it was good. Nothing wrong with it, it flowed well, and the climactic battle against Huey and Damien was a surprise combo but a welcome one. I just wish that combo got to develop further together character-wise. Seeing Kaina come in to fight Storm-Nym for real this time, with no suit to hold her back was suuuuuper cool.
The fight sequence against Madame X was done much, much better than Paragon and felt way more fun and cinematic. MX was a fun surprise and seeing that Madame X truly did want to rebel against Vitus was nice to get confirmation. I, again, don't have more to say just because this segment was so short. But now…….
Purgatorium.
Holy moly. This is the absolute peak of Rejuvenation. Never has the game had such an expertly done shift in environment and atmosphere to one of such dread and darkness. Purgatorium is the last song to compete for best track in the game for me. The sense of impending doom has never been this strong and focused. This entire part of the game just oozes evil like nothing else before it.
For the first time ever, we got to see Maria, in her complete and full form, in the present time. Seeing her immediately take command, strike immense fear into Vitus, and then proceed to show us why he feared the Archetype so much was a big highlight.
We witnessed the true birth of Zenos, the Prince, as Clear and Kieran 2.0 refer to him. His last conversation with Melia at the end leaves me unsure whether he will be a villain or not. As obvious as it might be to say his actions have made his motivations clear, I feel we don't know enough about what he wants to say whether he truly wants oblivion.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find moments of humor here that didn't feel out of place. One example is Patty somehow finding her way into every bad situation possible and yet coming in clutch with giving me all the Choice items. Now, I didn't actually end up using them, but still it's appreciated lmao. The other example might be exclusive to the Aero sprite in this segment, but having the hands held behind the back as you walk (kinda like Ralsei in DELTARUNE) while walking with Vitus who also does the same just gave me the funniest image of these two absolute incarnations of evil just doing some mustache-twirling plotting in the corner while giggling to themselves.
M2 turned out to be the most well-written character in this chapter across both routes. Giving her the title "Witch of the End" was a really nice touch. The team-ups that happened, from M2 and Cassandra + Kimono Girls, to now M2 and Storm-Nym??? while Zenos I suppose will be teaming up with Kaina as expected.
Now, as for the difficulty…… uh yeah it's completely out of this world unfair. I'm stubborn and refused to do Story Mode, so maybe I don't have the right to complain, but what I will say is that I have absolutely no shame about abusing D.E.S.U strats (Durant Entrainment Set Up) in every boss fight here except Geara. Aspect of Endings Vitus (I got the single battle) is completely ridiculous and makes me scared for what V15 and beyond may have.
I wasn't expecting to love Renegade as much as I did, as it's now my favorite of the two, and I'm absolutely determined to push through the difficulty of whatever may come.
I'm now more excited than ever for the story to continue and I feel comfortable saying that Rejuvenation is in my top 3 games of all time. If you managed to get here while reading all of my yapping, then thanks for taking the time!
Source: r/PokemonRejuvenation · by /u/Pretend-Detail3889